Love when a good recipe comes together from a few simple ingredients often found in a pantry. I just bought some saffron and now I know what to do with it. Lisa is the author of Lisa’s Project: Vegan. Here she is in her own words, “My name is Lisa Dawn Angerame and I write Lisa’s Project: Vegan. I am a vegan wife and mom. We are living a vegan lifestyle for our health, the health and welfare of the animals, and that of the planet. I make delicious, creative meals with love and compassion. Most of my recipes take less than 30 minutes to make and call for organic ingredients where possible. Enjoy!”

This is by far one of my favorite recipes! Breaded tofu cutlets seasoned to perfection topped with a light and refreshing salad sitting next to a pile of delicious saffron risotto. Two things about saffron risotto (1) it is much easier to make than you might think and (2) saffron is not as fancy as it sounds. It is fresh and delicious and turns the risotto a gorgeous yellow color. This whole meal can be prepared rather quickly and easily and you will find yourself in Milan asap!

Chop and saute the onion in olive oil in a large skillet with sides. Heat up the water and stir in the saffron to steep. When the onions are translucent, add the rice and stir around until translucent. Add a big ladle of hot saffron water and stir until absorbed. Then add another ladle of saffron water until it is absorbed. Stir often but start making the rest of the dinner. Keep adding water as each ladle full is absorbed until there is no more water left.

While this is going on, cut the tofu in half through the middle, then half again, and then into triangles. Set up a breading station by pouring each element into a bowl. Use your judgment. I have no measurements here.
1 – flour
2 – rice milk
3 – panko + seasonings
4 – plate for breaded tofu
Dredge the tofu in the flour, then the rice milk and then the panko. Heat up sunflower oil in a non-stick skillet and cook the tofu until golden on one side and then flip it over. Try to get the sides too.

Mix the salad dressing in a deep mixing bowl. Add the mixed greens and toss.

To plate, place the risotto on the bottom. Place the tofu gently on top and then pile a nice handful of salad on top. Garnish with a lemon slice. Enjoy!

More new bloggers! Exciting to see what vegan bloggers are doing and enjoying. Our newest contributor is Alexis from Sugar Coated Vegan. Here is Alexis in her own words, “My name is Alexis and I run the vegan food blog (sugar coated vegan)! I blog about vegan desserts along with the occasional savory recipe! I’m a self proclaimed vegan foodie from NYC with dreams to open a vegan bakery one day in the near future!” Please follow Sugar Coated Vegan on: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and of course the blog! Welcome Alexis!

The pepper jack cheese from Daiya sounded perfect for this yummy vegan quesadilla with pinto beans! It’s stuffed with the beans, peppers and tomatoes for a fresh twist and topped with a quick and simple salsa! There are SO MANY variations you can do with this like a mixed bean filling or stuffing it with different kinds of veggies and topping it with some fresh guacamole and vegan sour cream! I find that quesadilla or on a more broad note Mexican and Spanish foods are one of those things that you really miss when you go vegan. I swear everyone thinks it is so hard to replicate them but it really isn’t now that there are tons of vegan cheeses out there as well as easy nut based cheeses that actually melt.

These are SO QUICK and EASY to make!

I pulled these together within a few minutes and the only real waiting part is for the cheese to melt! Isn’t that the best part though?! It does take a bit for it to melt because it isn’t a traditional cheese but that problem is modified with cooking them on low for an extra amount of time so the tortilla doesn’t burn! Definitely try using a bunch of different color variety of peppers because the extra color looks so pretty in this! As you can see from the pictures I stuffed these a little too much because they’re not as thin as regular quesadilla but hey, the more the merrier! Feel free to use a whole wheat or gluten free wrap as well for an even healthier version!

Now, the salsa I made with this is not an authentic “omg I am in love” kind of salsa but a very simple one you can make when you don’t have anything else on hand. I actually used the “salsa” as a seasoning for the beans because I hate when you have smashed beans and they’re too dry so I like to add a little liquid while they’re cooking. You can definitely try adding whatever seasonings you like to it to spice it up a bit!

There are vegans in Texas! One is Kerry, she writes a blog called On the path to zen…. Here she is in her own words, “I am a vegan working always on finding her zen. Not easy these days, but the journey is well worth it! I am a Master Gardener and a Reiki Master/Teacher, and these combine very nicely with living the life of zen.” Join On the path to zen… on Facebook too! Welcome Kerry!

Growing up in Texas, there are two dishes you can find served at a restaurant within a stone’s throw, no matter where you are. Barbecue and chicken fried steak.

And if you are in Texas, never, ever, ever, refer to chicken fried steak and country fried steak. Trust me on this.

As I have tried to explain to many meat eaters, I bet nine times out of ten it is not the meat they like so much as it is the flavors of the food. To that end I like to make dishes that even I-will-never-be-vegan folks will eat and proclaim it delicious.

In one shallow bowl, combine the nutritional yeast and breadcrumbs and mix well. In another shallow bowl, pour in the soy sauce. Dip the tofu slices in the soy sauce and place in the breadcrumbs mixture, coat well on both sides. Place coated pieces on a sprayed baking pan. Sprinkle on some Old Bay and salt. Bake for 15 minutes, turn over, season and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve. Enjoy!

I served mine with some peppered cream gravy, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Delish!

What I like most about this recipe is it is baked, not deep fried. Yummy, healthy AND cruelty-free!

A month of American food wouldn’t be complete without my favourite American dish – jambalaya, a Louisiana speciality. Discovering this delicious dish essentially made me want to go to Louisiana! This jambalaya uses field mushrooms and vegetarian sausages instead of the traditional meat. Traditional jambalaya is also laden with green capsicum, however, I’ve left this out because it makes me sick – but if you are partial to a bit of green capsicum feel free to add it in, although I don’t think it needs it!!

I’ve also made this recipe using brown rice instead of white, it was also fantastic. You just need to increase the amount of water by about 2 cups and increase the cooking time by at least 20 minutes.

Ingredients

5 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 field mushrooms, washed and chopped in large chunks

3 vegetarian sausages, chopped

1 celery stick, chopped

1/2 cup dry sherry

4 tbsp tomato paste

2 cups basmati rice

6 cups vegetable broth

1 tin diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

2 tsp dried marjoram

1 tsp sweet paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tin cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tin Kidney beans, drained and rinsed

(More hot water, as required)

To Make

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot. Sauté the onions and celery for 2-3 mins. Add the mushrooms and veggie sausages and sauté until the veggies are cooked.

2. At this stage you’ll notice the bottom of the pan is getting all brownish from frying the veggies. So – deglaze the pan by adding the sherry (you’ll notice all the browny bits come right off the bottom and make your dish a lovely rich colour). Add the tomato paste as well and heat through.

3. Add the uncooked rice and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, tinned tomatoes, bay leaves and all herbs and spices. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring very frequently for about 30 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through, you may need to add more water as you are going to stop the rice sticking onto the bottom depending on how thirsty your rice is.

4. When the rice is almost cooked stir the tinned beans through. When the rice is fully cooked serve.

Please welcome back Vanessa, author of V is for Vegetables. You can read her previous post here a recipe for Zucchini Boats. Check V is for Vegetables on Twitter as well. Please welcome back Vanessa!

My new iPhone finally arrived in the mail. Can you believe the camera on it? I love how many different uses the iPhone has and the camera might be my favorite part on the new one. The camera has facial recognition technology on it which is nothing new but I loved how it kept finding faces in the rice. Do you see a man’s face to the left of the center onion ring? I didn’t see it at first until I realized my phone was trying to tag him as a person. The phone is almost too smart.

This Middle Eastern dish is often called Mujadarah which is a fancy way of saying “rice, lentils and onion.” I adapted this dish from Veganomicon, the excellent cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The one downfall of this cookbook is the lack of pictures. When I first made this dish, I thought, “No wonder there are no pictures… This looks like kitty litter.” With a little garnish, this dish ends up looking as delicious as it tastes.

Ingredients for rice, lentils and onion:

3 large red onions, peeled and sliced into thin rings

3/4 cup olive oil

1 cup long-grain basmati rice (brown or white), rinsed

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 cup red lentils, rinsed

Basil leaves for garnish

Directions for rice, lentils and onion:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lay the onion rings flat and separated in a large roasting pan. Toss in olive oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes until translucent and slightly burnt.

3. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add rice, cinnamon, allspice, and cumin. Return to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Uncover and gently stir in the lentils. Bring to a boil again then lower heat, cover and simmer. Cook until all water is absorbed. For me, this takes 12-15 minutes. Allow the dish to cool for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork.

5. Fold in the caramelized onions, garnish with basil leaves and serve with pita bread.

Ingredients for spiced pita:

4 whole wheat pitas

4 Tbsp olive oil for brushing

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

Directions for spiced pita:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice the pita bread into 1/8ths like a pizza.

3. Combine olive oil with the seasonings. Brush the mixture onto the insides of each pita crisp.

4. Spread the pita crisps out on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

Soak the cashew in filtered water for at least one hour, then drain and rinse. (You can read here why nuts should be soaked first.) If you’re short on time, you can soak them in hot water for ten minutes but the longer, the better.

While the pasta is cooking, sautée the garlic in the oil. When soft, combine the garlic and cashews in a food processor until pulverized. Drain the cooked pasta and return the hot pot back to the stove. On low heat, warm 1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce, then add the sun-dried tomatoes, cashew and garlic. Add more tomato sauce if you want to thin the sauce (it will make it lower in fat, calories and protein). Add the basil leaves and stir. Pour in the drained pasta and turn gently to coat. Serve topped with black pepper and extra basil leaves if desired.

Please welcome back a VBU! veteran. You can search her posts under her blog name Vegan Sparkles. The lovely Rebecca from down under. Feel free to check out her: blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Welcome back Bex!

Someday I’ll make the amazing spice blend that My New Roots wrote about but in keeping with the ‘fast, fresh and simple’ VeganMoFo theme I promised, I went the quicky route and used a store-bought Tandoori paste and adapted as so:

Tandoori Marinade

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp minced ginger

3-4 tbsp Tandoori paste

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp sea salt

270ml can coconut cream

Tandoori Roasted Cauliflower

Mix all marinade ingredients together and cover a clean cauliflower completely. Allow cauliflower to marinate in the fridge for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 180C and roast cauliflower until tender. My cauliflower had an extraordinarily large head so it took about an hour.

TA-DA! The finished product!

I tandoori roasted a cauliflower! I got excited. *happy dance*

SO tasty and fun to make and it made an incredible meal paired with steamed Basmati Rice, Cucumber Raita and Coriander ‘Butter’ Beans.

Now it may be a year since I’ve tasted yoghurt but if I’m not mistaken, this concoction tastes incredibly like the real thing:

Cucumber Raita

1 1/4 cup cashews, raw

3/4 cup water

1 lemon, juiced

1 small Lebanese cucumber, diced

1/2 tsp sea salt

While the cauliflower is roasting (for an hour or so), add cashews, water and lemon juice to blender and allow to soak. Blend until smooth and creamy. Remove from blender and stir in diced cucumber and salt.

Coriander ‘Butter’ Beans

In a large frypan, sauté green beans in a little vegan margarine until gently cooked. Add coriander and stir well. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Tandoori Cauliflower & Cucumber Raita Wraps

Then for the best part – for your delicious lunch the next day, simply heat leftover cauliflower in a frypan (with a little EVOO and some more Tandoori paste if you dare!) and serve in Silverbeet leaf wraps topped with Cucumber Raita, salad, rice and fresh coriander.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to my fellow Canucks. Hope everyone is enjoying the magic that is Vegan Mofo. Please welcome back a veteran VBU! contributor – Marsha, author of the blog A House Full of Health. You can see her first post for VBU! here,second and third. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and of course her blog. Welcome back Marsha!

First day of Vegan Mofo and here I am blogging at 7pm! Yes, I’m behind! But, let me tell you about my day.

Last night I took some time to prepare my menu for the week. I used to do this on Thursday evening to subsequently shop on Fridays but with shopping on Mondays, for the time being, busily worked on it last night. Anyway, when preparing a menu I decide on what we will be having for dinner each night as well as ingredients I need to get and at which store. I then wrote down each item I would be cooking including all the “kitchen gadgets,” I would need and all the ingredients for each. This makes it easier to know how many total carrots (or other item) I would need. This makes prep that much easier.

Menu:

Monday: BBQ Ranch Quinoa Salad. This is a recipe I was so excited to try off of Wendy Polisi’s page Cooking Quinoa. This is to be served with chips and salsa. Guacamole too!

Tuesday: Since I’ve gotten in the habit of salads on Tuesdays I’m keeping with the theme. Big Ole Salad night! With a Country French bread.

Wednesday: Pita sandwich. Filled with a quinoa, chickpea salad. With black-eyed pea hummus. Sweet potato fries as a side dish.

Thursday: Chili (oh yes! It’s that time of year again. I can finalize my recipe!) with rice. Cornbread as a side dish.

Friday: Spaghetti with “meatballs.” Garlic bread as a side

Saturday: Tunisian Bean Stew with Country French Bread. Salad as a side dish. I was wanting to use pumpkin since it’s October and all so I found a great recipe on Susan’s website, Fat Free Vegan.

One thing I learned in Culinary School (among many, of course) was getting everything ready for prep. Mis En Place. If I need carrots for 4 of my recipes it would be best to get them all prepped at once. It does seem to make things a tad easier.

I felt as though I had an assembly line going on for produce. I had 7 onions to cut!

One of my favorite kitchen gadgets, my egg slicer. Although, I never use it for eggs. Funny, huh? I use it for mushrooms. Sometimes black or green olives. It’s so convenient and easy to use!

For my chili I roast up some red bell peppers and jalapenos. Today, I did something a little differently. I cut the red bells into large slices. The jalapeno, I cut in half. I roasted that way, it was actually easier than doing them whole. I love roasted veggies!

I believe I sauteed a pound a half of mushrooms today. I guess I like to incorporate mushrooms. They are so flavorful, meaty, and full of great nutritious value.

Today’s cook took 8 hours. That’s not including the 2 hours it took to shop. I’m still learning and I’ve realized this one every recipe I chose had many components. Each one took longer than anticipated which is why my 5-6 hour cook time ended up being extended. I’m in learning mode, that’s for sure.

But!

I’m wiped!

We are certainly prepared for the week. And, the hubby got dinner on the table tonight. He did the finishing touches so I could spend some time with my little one.

This is why I do this! More time with the family. So, yes, a little late on my blog but I have a good excuse, right? And, I now have dinner for the week! Yay!

Please welcome Christie and Brent who are a vegan couple with a lovely personality and a knowledge to share. Here they are in their own words, “Turning Veganese is written by Brent, Christie and Melissa. Melissa, the creator of the blog, invited Brent and Christie to participate when she felt the urge to do more for her health, the environment and animals by going vegan. Posts in the blog are submitted by varying combinations of the three authors, each bringing their own taste and style to the table. This particular post is brought to you by Brent and Christie. Brent hails from Washington state and spent 6 years in Portland, Oregon working as an engineer for Xerox and playing drums for the rock band Of Former Fame before moving to Miami to join long time love Christie. Christie’s early experience in genetics at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hosptal inspired her to continue her work as a biochemist and molecular biologist first at Cornell University and now at Jackson Memorial Hospital for the University of Miami. Brent and Christie are both avid mountain climbers, Brazilian jiu jitsu enthusiasts and lovers of all things SciFi. When asked “why vegan?”, Brent says: “Vegan is a choice that leads to knowledge, which encourages enlightenment. It challenges virtually every Western convention and results in empowerment. Consumption over preservation, slaughter and exploitation over sustainability, toxicity over longevity. These messages have been ground into me as an American since birth, and continued to be my lifestyle up until challenging myself to be vegan. Now I have a better understanding of my effect on the planet, the impact I have on my community, and the control I have over my own health. Vegan is positive change.” When asked “why vegan?”, Christie says: “Vegan isn’t a sales pitch or a diet plan, its a philosophy grounded in the idea that animals aren’t here for humans to exploit. A healthier body and a cleaner environment is merely good karma for treating our neighbors well.” You can find us on FaceBook, Twitter and we’d love to hear from you EMAIL US if you’ve got any questions, We’d also like to thank Vegan Bloggers Unite! for creating a forum for vegans to collaborate and find one another in this carnist world!” Aww, thanks for the shout out. Welcome Christie and Brent!

The man and I are always trying to reproduce take-out favorites at home. A few weeks ago I became obsessed with creating a truly vegan, gluten-free version of veggies makhani which we periodically order from a beloved Indian restaurant. “Makhani” means butter in Hindustani and though a lot of restaurants make it with olive oil as a cheap alternative to ghee, I still worry my special request for olive oil won’t be met. This version isn’t stereotypical Indian food but rather an Americanized version of the Indian classics but that shouldn’t stop you from giving this a try. We made ours with traditional herbs and spices, peas and tofu instead of paneer. Paneer is a traditional home-made Indian cheese often used in this dish. Tofu is a great vegan substitute. Other veggies that would be appropriate include bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, and potatoes.

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the cumin and fenugreek seeds, and when they sputter add the cinnamon. Add the ginger and turmeric and stir for a minute or so over medium-high heat. Add the onions, “butter” and a little salt and saute until the onions start to brown, about five minutes. Add the tomatoes, cashew nuts and chilli powder. Saute the mixture until the tomatoes soften. If the mixture starts to get too dry before the tomatoes are done, add some water or vegetable stock and continue cooking. Once the tomatoes are really soft, turn off the heat and let the mixture cool. Pour into a blender along with the lemon, syrup, and tomato paste, using some broth to get all the
paste out of the can. An extra tablespoon of cashew butter won’t hurt but we’re trying to keep this light. Blend to a smooth paste adding veggie stock, syrup, salt, and chili paste as necessary.

I don’t recommend blending the mixture while it’s still hot because it can be dangerous. If you have a hand blender, this is the time to use it. Pour the blended paste back into the saucepan with your tofu, turn on the heat, add the remaining vegetable stock if the mixture is particularly thick. Now add the peas and any other veggies you like and stir them in. Let the mixture heat until it’s steamy. Garnish with coriander leaves, and serve hot with some rice, or a suitable substitute.

We used quinoa that we prepared by microwaving at 2 minute intervals. We also added some cardamom pods because they bring out the nutty smells and flavors in quinoa with their lemony aroma.

I just wish I could take a picture of the flavor for you: this is comfort food, pure and simple. I hope you get to enjoy some!

Always exciting when new bloggers are kind enough to be a guest on VBU. Please welcome Milo, he has been vegan for over five years and started Vegan Meal Adventures to track his attempt to stay away from processed foods. Two years later he now makes the majority of his meals and has a much greater knowledge of how to cook food that actually tastes good. Visit Milo on FB and Twitter. Please welcome Milo!

I don’t think I can fully explain how awesome these are so you’re just going
to have to trust me and make some! The BBQ Mango Burgers stemmed from
a recipe my dad sent me. I had picked up a sweet potato and parsnip to
mash up for a side but thought it might be fun to make them into fries
instead and they ended up being the perfect side topped with the extra
mango BBQ sauce. Using the mango was a lot of fun, I had never bought
a fresh mango before and they have some pretty intense pits!

I highly recommend you try both. The only thing I would do differently
is put in a little less cider vinegar because the sauce was a little
tangy for my taste. Also, let the broth cool and add the broth to your
seitan mix slowly because you may not need all of it.

That’s it, enjoy!

Making the Burgers:

Broth –

6+ Cups of Water
1/2 Cup of soy sauce or Amino Bragg
1/2 onion coarsely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
4 slices of fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon of veggie bouillon
salt to taste
*Throw it all in a large pot (you’ll need the room) and bring to a simmer.

Burgers –

1 Cup of vital wheat gluten
2-3 Tablespoon of Tapioca flour (helps firm up seitan)
1 teaspoon of sage
1 teaspoon of thyme
1/2 teaspoon of garlic and onion powder
3/4 Cup +/- of broth (let it cool first!)
*Mix up all dry ingredients in medium sized boil then add in 2/3 cup
of broth and more as needed. After wet and dry combined, knead 6-8
times into a ball. It will be squishy! Divide the ball into 4 parts
and form into patties. Keep in mind they will expand and the more
compact they are the better they cook so don’t stretch the patties too
thin. Place patties carefully into simmering broth. DO NOT LET BROTH
COME TO A BOIL! It will ruin your seitan and cause it to not firm up.
Let simmer for one to one and a half hours or until firm. Let cool and
serve!

1 medium sweet potato peeled and cut into 3 inch x 1/2 inch fries
1 large parsnip peeled and cut into 3 inch x 1/2 inch fries
3 Tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place fries on large cookie sheet.
Sprinkle salt and pepper to amount desired and drizzle olive oil over
the fries. Use your hands (or a spoon) to evenly coat and disperse
fries on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, flip and bake for another
15 minutes and your done! Just keep it in the fridge until your
burgers and fries are ready.